Photo by Qian Jun/MB Media/Getty Images
Red Bull locks out the front row at the Japanese Grand Prix, but Ferrari has reasons to believe
A driver without a seat for next season is slowly — or quickly, depending on your point of view — cementing himself as the storyline of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
In three starts this season Carlos Sainz Jr. has delivered three podium finishes. He opened the year with a third-place finish in the Bahrain Grand Prix, and while he missed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix due to an appendectomy, he rebounded with a stunning return to the grid, and a win at the Australian Grand Prix.
Sainz delivered another podium result on Sunday at the Japanese Grand Prix, starting fourth and picking up a spot over the course of the Grand Prix to come across third, behind two Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez. Along the way Sainz delivered another “smooth operation,” including some stunning overtakes at Spoon Curve, first on Lewis Hamilton on Lap 19, and a few laps later on George Russell.
“Yeah, I had a good race, to be honest,” said Sainz trackside to Mark Webber after his third-place finish. “Very happy, because it was quite tough out there with the degradation, but then suddenly the clouds came, the degradation went a lot lower, and suddenly I thought that, yeah, maybe one stop was quicker and we were on the two. I had to overtake a lot of cars out there today and, yeah, overtaking was tricky. Like always at Suzuka, you really need to nail the last chicane to get a good run into Turn 1. I could finish my moves, but it was tough out there.”
Sainz also praised the SF-24 in his post-race comments.
“Yeah, very satisfying. We exactly improved the car in the places that we wanted to improve it, and Suzuka proves it. Still, places like Suzuka, we are not as quick as the Red Bull, which is the target, but as soon as we bring a good upgrade to the car that goes in the right direction, hopefully it can get us closer.
“But yeah, we’ve improved everywhere, and especially in the race pace. It also allows us to have more strategic flexibility, that last year we didn’t have,” continued Sainz. “It allows me to go forward in the races and instead of looking in my mirrors all the time to offset myself with strategy and then overtake people, which is something that last year wasn’t on the cards at any point. So, happy and makes me enjoy more racing.”
The year began with Sainz continually linked to Sauber for 2025, ahead of that outfit becoming the Audi works team for the 2026 season. The “connecting of the dots” makes sense, given his father’s status as a rally driver for Audi.
But with his start to the season, and the racing craft he has shown so far this year, his phone is likely ringing off the hook with offers.
Making him perhaps the most fascinating free agent in the sport right now.
Here are the full results from the Japanese Grand Prix, as well as some more winners and losers:
Winners: Red Bull
“Here is Max Verstappen, coming along the final corners … and it is downhill to victory for the reigning champion,” came the call from Alex Jacques on F1TV as Verstappen wound his RB20 through Suzuka’s final corners to take the checkered flag.
If it felt like the first time you had heard his name all day, you were correct.
He needed two standing starts to do it — the one at the start of the race and then the restart shortly thereafter after a collision knocked Daniel Ricciardo and Alexander Albon out of the race — but Verstappen eventually drove away from the field, making his return to the top step of the podium after a DNF in Melbourne a foregone conclusion.
But just as impressive? The driver from teammate Sergio Pérez, who delivered a front-row lockout for Red Bull with his P2 finish. Pérez needed to fight a bit harder for his result, as differing strategies from various teams saw him shuffled down the order a bit, before making up some ground on the track. Along the way you saw some racing mastercraft from Pérez, including an overtake on Lewis Hamilton at 130R that Jolyon Palmer on F1TV described as “spicy stuff.”
But it is Verstappen’s dominant drive that we turn to first in this category.
“Yeah, I was not happy up until basically qualifying, but then we did make some changes. And yeah, of course, I cannot go into detail what we did, but it did help today,” described Verstappen after the race in the FIA Press Conference. “And yeah, it made it a lot nicer to drive and a bit more under control.
“I mean, not a relief, it’s just nice to win, and it’s nice, of course, to win here in Japan. It’s always an important race for us. You know, the fans, of course, we have a lot of support here, and it’s great, you know, to win here in front of Honda, and basically have three cars in the points as well,” continued Verstappen. “So, yeah, of course, Melbourne felt like a bit of a hiccup but what we did today, that’s what we want to do, and that’s what we aim to do every single weekend.”
For Pérez, who now has three P2 finishes on the year, the day was filled with some “good fun,” including those overtakes at 130R.
Yeah, it started really well yesterday and today we had a good start. Unfortunately, I think we got caught out with the increase of temperature and I think with the balance, we just couldn’t get on top of that in the first stint, which meant that the degradation was a little bit higher and with Lando having two sets of Hards it just compromised a little bit our race more than I wanted to,” described Pérez. “But I think already on the second stint things were a lot back under control, We were able to get a better read to the balance. And I think by the time we got to the third stint, things were a lot better.
“Yeah, it just turned out to happen both at the same time. Spending time around one of the slowest cars, given the degradation they were having, it was quite penalising. So I was just going for it. And it happened at 130R both times,” outlined Pérez.
“No, it’s good fun. It’s good fun to go around there with two cars,” described the Red Bull driver when asked if those overtakes were “nerve-wracking.”
It was a dominant performance from Red Bull, and a reminder that hope as we might for a true title fight, the Bulls still hold the keys to that battle. With the grid heading back to China for the first time since 2019, and a circuit that is very similar to Suzuka with a number of high-speed corners, we might be in for something similar next time out.
And this warning from Pérez may send shudders down the spines along the paddock.
“[China’s] a bit of a similar track, I’ll say, with a lot of high-speed, medium-speed content. I think if we are able to be fast around this place, we can be fast in many other races, so it should be a good track for us as well,” outlined Pérez.
Spicy stuff, indeed.
Loser: Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo entered the Japanese Grand Prix under pressure to deliver a strong performance, with questions increasing about his future at Visa Cash App RB F1 Team. But 53 strong laps at Suzuka would go a long way towards quieting those questions, at least for the moment.
He did not finish a lap.
Ricciardo came into contact with Alexander Albon on the opening lap at Turn 3, moving to his right as Lance Stroll came up alongside him on the inside and touching Albon’s FW46. The contact sent both into the gravel and the grass on the outside, before both ended up in the wall, their days having come to an early end.
“After yesterday, where we made some steps in the right direction, I was really excited to come racing today to have a good day. In these cases, a Lap 1 incident is one of the worst things that could happen to a driver, especially as you don’t really have the chance to do anything after the massive build-up and energy used to be prepared for the race. It was a shame and an unfortunate one for all of us involved,” described Ricciardo in the team’s post-race report.
“It was a racing incident, and luckily, after some checks, both Alex and I are okay. The start of the race was really poor as Yuki and I were on medium tyres, and we were struggling so much compared to the other cars behind on the soft compound. In Turn 2, it settled a little bit, but I still felt like I was sliding and then saw an Aston on the outside of me. I was watching him but when I was preparing to enter Turn 3, without using all the track as it was the first lap, Albon got alongside me and had a better exit from Turn 2. I didn’t see him and we touched,” continued the VCARB driver. “This is racing sometimes and is part of it; not really anyone to blame, there was just a huge difference in terms of grip out of there. I’m sorry for the team, but China is soon, so we’ll focus on that.”
Just how much pressure Ricciardo is on to keep his seat is unclear. But the Red Bull/VCARB family is not known for its patience, and with a number of talented drivers in the fold such as Liam Lawson (side note, if you are looking for an “F1 Drinking Game,” one category should be “every time the camera cuts to Lawson after Ricciardo makes a mistake,” as suggested by our friends at Underground F1) the organization has options.
The year began with the conventional wisdom holding that Ricciardo was perhaps in line to replace Sergio Pérez at Red Bull. But as the grid heads to China for the first time since the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix, the bigger question might be just how much longer will Ricciardo hold on to his current seat.
Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Winners: F1 Fans
Suzuka is not known as a track that lends itself to a lot of overtaking. In fact, a study conducted by Keberz Engineering recently found that based on the average number of overtakes per race, Suzuka was around the middle of the pack.
It did not feel like that on Sunday.
Whether it was the clear weather conditions, the high level of of tire degradation, the early red flag leading to teams trying a variety of tire strategies, or a combination thereof, there was some incredible overtaking throughout the field on Sunday at Suzuka.
Perhaps the most glaring example came from hometown hero Yuki Tsunoda, who on multiple occasions was bold enough to pass on the outside working through the “Esses,” the section of high-speed corners in the first sector. But those passes, as well as moves like the one Sergio Pérez put on the Mercedes duo at 130R on back-to-back laps or the ones that Carlos Sainz Jr. made at Spoon, or Lance Stroll on the outside of the “Esses” as well against Valtteri Bottas in the race’s later stages, made for some fascinating racing for fans.
The overtaking was such that the social media team at F1 put this together:
As Jenson Button — who won at Suzuka in 2011 — explained to me late last week, while Suzuka is not know for overtaking, when it does happen, it is incredible to see. “There aren’t so many overtaking opportunities around Suzuka, but when it happens, it’s awesome,” explained Button to me last week.
We saw that early and often on Sunday, and it made for a true spectacle of motorsport.
Losers: Alpine
On Lap 22, Jolyon Palmer on F1TV summed up the day for Alpine:
“It couldn’t be bleaker for them … horror show at the moment for Alpine.”
The reason? Esteban Ocon was just given a command by the team to push. The driver’s response?
“I am pushing what are you talking about?”
At the time Ocon was running in P16, just one spot ahead of teammate Pierre Gasly in P17. The two were at the back of the field, ahead of only the three retired drivers at the time in Zhou Guanyu, Daniel Ricciardo, and Alexander Albon.
The challenging start to the year for Alpine rolled on Sunday at Suzuka. The team began the year with a car that was overweight, and lagging behind the field. While their have been flashes of progress in the past two races — Ocon advanced to Q2 in both the Australian Grand Prix and this weekend in Japan — the points have yet to come for the team. And while Alpine was one of the teams that brought upgrades to Suzuka, it seems those tweaks have not improved the A524 quickly enough to deliver a bigger result for the team.
The progress may still come, but as is often the case in Formula 1, the fixes will not come overnight for Alpine.
Winners: Ferrari
As we have noted over the past few months — whether due to the closing laps of the 2023 F1 season or in his patient drive in this year’s season-opening grand prix — we have seen a ton of patience and maturity from Charles Leclerc recently.
That trend continued on Sunday.
Heading into the Japanese Grand Prix there was an air of frustration coming from Leclerc’s side of the garage. After a disappointing qualifying session on Saturday, one that Leclerc described in part as a “disaster,” the Ferrari driver started at the back of the top ten.
But thanks to a long, patient, and perhaps masterful, extended stint on a set of medium tires to start the race, Leclerc put his SF-24 into the race lead for a brief moment, and in position for a podium. While he eventually lost that P3 to teammate Carlos Sainz Jr., Leclerc still finished fourth, banking a huge chunk of points for the team and showing yet again some growth as a driver.
“Looking just at today’s race, I’m quite happy, because there is nothing that we could have done better. Our pace, tyre management, communication and strategy were all really good,” described Leclerc after the race in the team’s media report.
Team Principal Frederic Vasseur had praise for both his drivers, as well as the entire organization.
“Today, our team worked in a calm and focused manner to achieve its goals. We made a real step forward over the winter and the results of that can be seen on track. We had a very solid Sunday, securing the best result possible after a difficult qualifying yesterday and that’s something we definitely have to work on,” described Vasseur.
“The team did everything perfectly in the race, from strategy to tyre management. Both drivers did an excellent job in managing their respective strategies. With Carlos starting nearer the front we could be more aggressive so that he finished on a charge, pulling off several great passing moves,” added the Ferrari boss. “We were a bit more limited with Charles, as he was down in eighth on the grid, but he drove an excellent first stint and so we were able to execute a one-stop strategy that meant he made up a lot of places. Looking at the result, it’s clear there is still room for improvement if we want to put Red Bull under pressure and that’s what we’d like to do as from the next round in China.”
That finish also could be huge in the fight in the Constructors’ Championship. Sure, there were hopes as the grid headed to Suzuka that the door was actually open for a team to challenged Red Bull at the front of the field, but their front-row lockout might have seen that door close a bit.
What might also be some balm for the Tifosi?
Ferrari is starting to put it together on the strategy side as well, which according to Sainz is possible because of their stronger car.
“I think we’ve made progress on strategy over the last three years, progressively, but if you see a jump this year on strategy, it’s purely down to the car. I think just having a car that allows you to have flexibility on strategy is something that last year we couldn’t have. So, we were boxed in to stop at certain laps. We couldn’t extend,” described Sainz after the race.
“We had so much [tire degradation] that it looked always like people could extend and then come back on us on a harder tyre. Last year, we were just zero flexible and we couldn’t do anything without racing. So it looked like we were not getting the strategy right a lot of times,” added Sainz. “But when you have a car that is better on tyres, two drivers that can push on the car more often and you have that extra flexibility, your strategy also looks better. And with this, I’m not underestimating the progress we’ve done. It’s just I really think this helps a lot.”
In the battle that is shaping up for P2 in the Constructors’, you could certainly say that Ferrari has the advantage at the moment. If the Scuderia eventually hold onto P2 — or truly put the challenge to Red Bull over this season — Sundays like this one in Suzuka, and Leclerc’s patient drive, will be a huge reason why.
Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images
Winner: Yuki Tsunoda
We close this out with the hometown hero, and a bit of history.
Yuki Tsunoda came across the line P10, notching a point in his home race.
Not only was it the first time Tsunoda finished in the points at Suzuka in his F1 career, it marked the first time in 12 years a Japanese driver scored at home. The last time came back in 2012, when Kamui Kobayashi put his Sauber-Ferrari on the third step of the podium.
A “relieved” Tsunoda praised his team for an “insane” pit stop late in the race that saw him pick up multiple spots.
“[I’m] relieved,” exclaimed Tsunoda after the race. “I would say after I lost a couple of positions in the first start, yeah I felt a bit of disappointment for sure but at the same time I had a great start after that and I think one of the big highlights was the pit stop.
“Our team did a fantastic job, the mechanics were very fast and we overtook two cars, insane! So – without them, without that – it probably would have been a lot more difficult to score a point today so big credit to the team and obviously able to score in front of Japanese fans finally, so very happy.”
Tsunoda was referring to a stop in the later stages of the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday. While the VCARB driver was scrapping with a few different cars for that final spot in the points, he came down pit lane along with Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Lance Stroll, and Logan Sargeant.
But the team managed to get him back on the track ahead of Bottas, Magnussen, and Sargeant, with Tsunoda rejoining the fight in P11. Only the Haas of Nico Hülkenberg was between him and that final point, and with the Haas driver still needing to make a pit stop, Tsunoda’s history-making finish was in sight.
But it was not without some drama from him, as Tsunoda was one of a few different drivers who pulled off some masterful overtakes, including some overtakes on the outside of the “Esses,” a spot in the first sector not known for passing.
“I felt confident today. I knew our straight-line speed isn’t that competitive compared to other cars but at the same time, we know we had a lot of downforce, and the only chance we had was through the “Esses,” normally affected by downforce. It allowed me a couple good overtakes and I definitely enjoyed that. In terms of tyre management, I feel like my driving in today’s race was probably my best,” described Tsunoda in the team’s post-race report. “I started my career here and to be able to score points here is extremely special. A big thank you to everyone at Honda, Red Bull and Visa Cash App RB who have been involved and supported me throughout my journey.
“I don’t feel like I scored P10 today but P1 – it’s a great feeling.”
A well-deserved great feeling for a driver enjoying a tremendous start to the season.
